For those of you that have been reading this and have been waiting forever for me to update, you have no longer to wait for I give you Chapter Two! Read and Enjoy!


Chapter Two

"Jon, it's good to see you! What can I do for you?" Gardner said as soon as he appeared on the screen.

"You too, Admiral. I've got some news for you, and I figured I'd let you know before it came across your desk tomorrow." Archer replied.

"What do you have for me, Jon?" he asked.

"We're on our way back to Earth for the ceremony now. Should be there tomorrow evening. We took some damage, but we were able to rescue Shran's daughter."

"That's good news. What happened out there? All I've heard was that you were attacked by the smugglers you rescued his daughter from. I hope it's nothing serious."

"They took out our weapons, some of which still aren't repaired yet, and warp drive was offline for a day and a half. There was an explosion inside the ship near the docking hatch when we were boarded by the smugglers. It killed them, and the damage has been mostly repaired."

"There's more than you're telling me, isn't there?"

"I almost lost Trip in that explosion. He's the one who set it off to save the ship."

"Is he alright?"

"He'll be fine in time for the ceremony. Phlox says if we'd brought him in any later than we had he would have died from the punctured lung and the plasma burns combined. We're lucky he's still alive."

"Well at least you got Enterprise out in one piece. Anything else to report?" Gardner asked.

"Just one other thing, sir. Shran spoke to his government. They've asked him to sign the charter on Andoria's behalf. Since he's already aboard, we offered to transport him to Earth since going all the way back to Andoria for him to take his own transport seemed pointless."

"I'll inform the Prime Minister. Now Jon, I know I probably shouldn't, but is there something on your mind?"

"Yes, sir. Admiral, I know the top brass made their decision, but I have to tell you that I, along with the rest of my crew, agree that this isn't the right time to be decommissioning Enterprise. We have five NX class ships operational, including Enterprise. Now is not the time to start decommissioning our most advanced ships!" Archer replied.

"I know, Jon. Believe me I do. If I didn't I wouldn't have argued that point with the brass myself. To be honest, though, I think what you went through during that smuggling attack might just be enough to change their minds."

"You just figured out my argument, sir. I really think decommissioning Enterprise is a bad idea. She's the flagship of the fleet! We don't have a lot of ships out there after the war, and this ship was built primarily for exploration. I know Starfleet feels four NX ships are enough but it's a pretty big galaxy out there, Admiral. We need all the ships we can get, especially if the Klingons decide to take advantage of our weakened state."

"I'm aware of that, Captain. Look, I can't promise anything, but the brass is meeting in a few minutes. It's a short meeting, probably won't last longer than an hour. Let me talk to them and see what I can do. I'll be sure they're made aware of you and your crew's concerns." Gardner replied.

"Thank you, sir."

"What's your ETA to Earth, Jon?"

"At our current speed, we should arrive in just under 20 hours. It'll be about 17:00 by then." Archer replied.

"Alright. Call me when you arrive, I should have an answer for you by then."

"Understood, Admiral." Archer told him.

"Safe journey, Jon. Gardner out." Gardner answered, and the comm. winked out.

The next morning, after some negotiation, Trip was released from sickbay. Phlox wasn't too pleased with how slow his lung was healing, but was confident that it would heal completely within the next week or so. Of course, getting out of sickbay didn't mean he was allowed to return to work. Then again, there wasn't much work to be done. He thought about going to Engineering to check on the engines, but thought better of it since they would be at Earth in a few hours. He decided that getting some sleep was a good idea. He didn't want to be the one in the dog house with Jon because he fell asleep during a speech he was actually looking forward to hearing, which was something considering he hated speeches. When he got to his quarters, he found he wasn't alone as he had anticipated. He would have groaned in annoyance, but this was the good type of company. Standing in the center of the room was T'Pol.

"The doctor has released you." She said.

"Yeah, he did. I had to agree to rest, though. How'd you get in here, T'Pol?" he asked.

"I still have your lock code, Commander. You should change it more often." She replied.

"Good point, I haven't actually changed it in a while. So what are you doin' here?"

"There are things I wished to discuss with you. If this is a bad time, it can wait until after the ceremony on Earth."

"Nonsense, I always have time for you, T'Pol. After all these years I thought you would have figured that out by now." He replied.

"May I sit?" she asked. Trip nodded, gesturing to the chair at his desk, figuring she'd need her space. Instead she took a seat next to him on the bed, something he hadn't expected, but also something which he was used to. When she said nothing further for a few moments, he spoke up.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I wished to discuss us."

"What about us?" he asked, not sure he was going to like where this was going.

"In the past, you have made it known on several occasions that you had feelings for me. I had at every instance disregarded them."

"I know that, T'Pol. You're Vulcan, so it's expected that you would have trouble reading other people. Humans find it easy to read emotions, we deal with them all the time. You just haven't had enough practice doing that."

"I do not believe I will ever get enough practice, as you say, doing that. My emotions have become more difficult to suppress since our time the Expanse." She told him. Trip realized this was probably her way of apologizing to him for whatever wrongs she had committed.

"If that's why you've been pushing me away for the last four years, I guess that's something I can understand. Probably would have hurt a whole hell of a lot less if you'd told me that from the beginning." He said, regretting having said that last part almost immediately. Instead T'Pol almost immediately tore her gaze from the wall to look him in the eyes.

"It was never my intention, or my desire, to hurt you in any way." She said with a worried look.

"I know, but really, why didn't you talk to me? I could've helped you understand whatever emotions you were feeling."

"I didn't understand how to discuss them with anyone at the time. I also did not feel confident discussing what led me to feel these emotions. It is a dark memory that I am not particularly, as you humans say, proud of."

"You mean your trellium addiction." He said. She stared at him in what amounted to horror for a Vulcan.

"Yeah, I've known for a long time now."

"How?"

"One night, I saw you inject yourself with something. I didn't know what it was, figured it was one of those nasal inhibitors that Phlox gives you. You put it down and forgot to take it with you, and I got curious. I looked closer and saw what it was. I wanted to go to Phlox, but I didn't want him putting pressure on you, so I did some investigating on my own. That's when I found out. I was going to tell you, but then the ship got attacked and then you stopped taking the drug, so I didn't feel the need to press the issue." He said. All she did was to turn completely away from him and stare in the opposite direction of him.

"I am sorry. Everything that has happened between us, it was because of my addiction."

"Don't say that. Look, after you got help from Phlox, did the emotions go away?"

"They did not."

"And from what you keep telling me, Vulcans do have emotions."

"Yes, but it is illogical for a Vulcan to show emotion." She said, trying not to raise her voice or give the impression that she was losing control.

"I've done a lot of research on this, and I know Vulcans do show emotion, just not in public, and only with either family or close friends. Or…well…mates."

"Follow your heart…" she whispered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. He had heard her. She couldn't lie to him, he would never forgive her. And so she decided in that moment never again to hold her feelings back with him, and to always tell him the truth, no matter what the cost.

"Back in the Expanse, when we encountered the alternate Enterprise, I went to their ship to see my older self. She told me to "follow my heart". I did not understand it at the time. I asked her what I should do if my heart didn't know what it desired. She said that in time it would. I understand her advice now. I believe I now know what my heart wants." She told him. He didn't want to ask the next question, but he knew it was either now or never. If she refused him now, he'd let it go forever.

"So…what does it want? Your heart, I mean." He asked, half expecting her not to answer and just walk out. Instead, she turned to him, embraced him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"My heart wants you, Trip. I want you. I do not wish for you to leave."

"But what about Koss? I know he released you but…"

"No. Trip, I have never desired anyone as I do you. You are the mate I want. I am sorry I did not realize that before I went through with my marriage to Koss. I do realize it now, and I never wish to be parted in any way from you again." She said. He was about to ask whether or not she meant it this time, or if she was just toying with him, but was stopped when she very passionately and very un-Vulcan like kissed him on the lips. A kiss that lasted longer that any he'd ever shared with her. That's when he realized she was serious this time. After a few moments, they broke apart.

"You should get back to your quarters. We'll be back at Earth soon for the ceremony and we both need to get some rest."

"Is that not something I can easily do here? Do you not wish me to stay with you?" she asked, confused.

"What? No, of course I want you stay! Wait a minute. T'Pol, are you asking to live with me?" he replied.

"I have told you I do not want to be apart from you in any way. However, if you wish to…"

"T'Pol, a simple yes or no would have been fine. If you want to sleep here tonight, or for that matter the rest of your life, that's just fine by me. Now I know this is going to seem a bit emotional for you, but I should have told you this a long time ago. I love you, T'Pol. Always have, always will." He said. And there it was. Now the cat was out of the bag. Since she had already told him she was in love with him in her own way, he didn't feel bad about telling her now. The only thing he felt was guilt.

"What is wrong?"

"I don't know. I just feel guilty for not telling you before when we were on Vulcan for your wedding. We could have skipped by all this dancing around ourselves, and you wouldn't have had to get married to that Koss guy."

"It is not your fault, Trip. I did not marry him because of what I felt for him. I did so to help my mother."

"I know that. It's just…I would have said something then, but I was taught never to come between a man and his wife, no matter what species they were. Hell, I even would have said something after he released you, but I didn't know what you wanted. You've always danced around the issue." He replied.

"I had no desire to hurt you, Trip. I simply did not know how to deal with the emotions I now feel. Now that I do know how to deal with some of them, I realize that I should never have ignored your feelings for me, especially considering the fact that no matter how I tried, I always felt the desire to reciprocate them. I am sorry I did not until now, and I have no intention of burying my feelings for you any longer." She said. Before Trip had a chance to respond, she stopped him with probably the most passionate kiss she'd ever given him. For them, the talking was over for the night.


I'll leave that very last sentence up to everyone's imagination :p! Anyway, I know updates for this story (and every other one I'm still writing) have been very few and very far between, but the muse has been silent for me, thus basically stopping my attempt to write anything. I still do have an idea of where to take this story, but I haven't been able to put that on paper yet. Still, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It certainly cleared up one or two things for Trip and T'Pol. As for chapter three...well, lets just say I'm working on it. It may be a while before it's up, though. Anyway, happy reading, and comments of any kind are always welcome!